Category Archives: FCC

The FCC announced today that its Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis will hold a workshop on May 20, 2015 beginning at 1:00 p.m. to discuss several changes to the E-rate rules that facilitate construction of fiber networks by schools and libraries. In the past, multiple E-rate rules limited the… Continue Reading

Cable, wireless and wireline providers have all recently sought reconsideration of certain elements of the FCC’s Second E-rate Modernization Order. Seeking a variety of changes to the recent order, from relatively minor clarifications to significant modifications, the filers collectively ask the FCC to go back to the drawing board and re-work significant portions of the… Continue Reading

On December 19, the FCC released the text of its Second Report and Order in its E-rate modernization proceeding. The new Order increased the annual spending cap on the E-rate program by an additional $1.5 billion—taking the cap from $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion per year starting in the 2015-2016 funding year. This increase was expected after… Continue Reading

Today, by a 3-2 vote along party lines, the FCC approved an Order adopting further modernization of the E-Rate Program. At this point, only a News Release has been issued. Highlights of the Order include: increasing the annual spending cap on the E-Rate program from $2.4 to $3.9 Billion; suspending the requirement that applicants seek funding… Continue Reading

FCC Chairman Wheeler announced in a recent FCC blog post that the agency will be considering another E-Rate reform item during the agency’s next open meeting on December 11. This latest proposal is expected to increase the annual E-rate spending cap by $1.5 billion and include several changes to the program intended to accelerate broadband… Continue Reading

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating a draft order to permanently increase the size of the E-rate program by an additional $1.5 billion per year, which would raise the annual funding cap from the current $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion. Word of the draft order was announced on a blog entry posted to the FCC… Continue Reading

The FCC has released an Order approving the Eligible Services List for funding year 2015-2016. The list has been significantly revised both to implement the new changes announced in the FCC’s E-rate Modernization Order and to streamline the language on the list itself. It has been significantly reduced in length, shrinking from 48 pages to just 8… Continue Reading

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler gave a speech earlier this week stating that “the heart and soul of any further modernization [of the E-rate program]” must be to close what he called the “Rural Fiber Gap.” He stated that “40% of schools in rural areas lack access to fiber networks” and that “of those that could… Continue Reading

The FCC’s recent E-rate modernization order is the first significant effort to reform the program since its inception in 1997, and was adopted amidst dissension among FCC commissioners and public controversy. It also included a further notice of proposed rulemaking. The public has been invited to provide comment on such issues as whether the FCC should… Continue Reading

On August 12, 2014, FCC staff released a Staff Report that both summarizes the new rules adopted in the recent E-rate modernization order and presents data gathered during prior stages as parties prepare to file comments on the further notice of proposed rulemaking (“FNPRM”) in that proceeding. The FNPRM (found at section VIII of the… Continue Reading

The proposed E-rate Eligible Services List for funding year 2015-2016 has been released for public comment. The proposed list is intended to implement the changes made in the FCC’s recently-released E-rate modernization order, but the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (“WCB”) has asked for comments on whether the proposed list accurately implements those changes. Aside from… Continue Reading

Last Thursday, July 24, the FCC issued the 176-page text of its E-rate Modernization Order (“Order”), which it adopted on July 11 in a sharply divided and partisan 3-2 vote. The Order includes a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“FNPRM”) that proposes to tackle a number of issues that the FCC deferred in the Order,… Continue Reading

Late yesterday, the FCC released the text of its first order in the E-rate modernization proceeding. The new order includes a target of $1 billion per year over the next five years for Wi-Fi funding (although only funding for the next two years has been identified), many new administrative changes to the program (including a… Continue Reading

While it remains difficult to “read between the lines” of the FCC’s vote to “modernize” its E-rate program since those lines (the Order) have not yet been published, there are some notable inferences that can already be drawn. While the FCC’s new emphasis on assuring Wi-Fi funding is historic and important, it is likely that… Continue Reading

This morning, the FCC voted on its long-awaited Order reforming the E-rate program. While the text of the Order has not yet been released, descriptions of its contents shared during the meeting and in a press release provide the overarching themes and some details. Under the Order, the E-rate program’s current structure, which is divided… Continue Reading

A divided Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote tomorrow, July 11, on an E-rate Reform Order proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler. The proposed order, which is focused primarily on enabling schools and libraries to use E-rate funding for Wi-Fi services, has become the subject of much controversy and, this week, of bitter division between… Continue Reading

Today, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced in a new fact sheet that he has circulated a draft of the much-anticipated E-rate order to his fellow Commissioners for their review. It is expected that the FCC will vote on the Order, presumably with some changes, at its July 11 open meeting. As shown in the fact… Continue Reading

Last week, the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau issued an Order denying a request for waiver and review of an E-rate program decision made by USAC, which determined that a Texas school district violated the FCC’s competitive bidding rules by failing to use price as the primary factor in its vendor selection process. FCC rules require… Continue Reading

FCC Chairman Wheeler posted a blog entry today on the agency’s website emphasizing the need to change its E-rate rules before the next e-rate funding year in order to encourage the deployment of Wi-Fi to the nation’s schools and libraries. Currently, E-rate rules relegate funding for Wi-Fi to the “Priority 2” internal connections category, which pays for… Continue Reading

Late last Friday, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released an Order rescinding prior guidance that permitted E-rate applicants to request full funding for certain bundles that included service or equipment components that are not eligible for E-rate funding. The prior guidance, issued in 2010, had departed from past FCC decisions that required service providers and… Continue Reading

In another milestone in its initiative to expand and modernize the E-Rate program within the next few months, on May 6 the FCC convened a day-long E-Rate Modernization Workshop at its Washington, D.C. headquarters. The workshop included remarks by all five FCC commissioners and roundtable discussions featuring state and local K-12 school and library officials… Continue Reading

Last week, the FCC announced that it would effectively increase the E-rate cap for the 2014-2015 funding year to $2.6 billion by allowing $200 million left over from prior years to be spent in the upcoming funding year. The FCC indicated that it expected these funds to be sufficient for USAC to fund all committed… Continue Reading

Yesterday, the FCC announced the agenda for its E-Rate Workshop to be held on May 6. The workshop, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 AM and conclude at 3:00 PM, will be held in the Commission meeting room and will be attended by all FCC commissioners. The workshop is open to the public (subject to… Continue Reading

The FCC announced today that it will hold a workshop with stakeholders on May 6, 2014, to discuss the pending E-rate modernization rulemaking proceeding. The workshop may center on the recent Public Notice in which the FCC sought to focus on a narrow subset of issues raised by the lengthy 2013 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)… Continue Reading

Topics

Archives

About Lifeline Law Team

Lifeline eligible telecommunications carriers ("ETCs") turn to DWT for our extensive and in-depth experience handling market entry and compliance issues at both the federal and state levels. DWT has a dedicated Lifeline team that lives and breathes the Lifeline program every day. We represent top-10 Lifeline ETCs as well as much smaller firms. We are highly experienced in ETC legal issues, but more importantly, we understand how the legal issues affect your business.